


Courage

by buckysknifecollection



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: F/M, Halloween, Halloween Challenge, Haunted Houses, Humor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-14
Updated: 2019-10-14
Packaged: 2020-12-16 03:42:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,010
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21029678
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/buckysknifecollection/pseuds/buckysknifecollection
Summary: After a busy month of avenging, you and Bucky finally make it to Tony’s Halloween festivities and there’s a Haunted House you just cannot miss, no matter how much of a scaredy cat you are.





	Courage

**Author's Note:**

> {{This piece was reposted from my Tumblr blog buckysknifecollection.tumblr.com}}
> 
> This was written for a friend's Halloween writing challenge on Tumblr.   
"Maybe you can relax in a Haunted House, but I can’t." was the prompt sentence I chose, that's why it's in bold.

Halloween has always been your favourite holiday, ever since you were a child. The costumes, the candy, the movie marathons and ever since you joined the Avengers - Tony’s ridiculous parties. He always out-did himself, every single time, and Halloween just so happened to be one of his favourite occasions as well. 

The Tower has seen mazes, treasure hunts and themed balls but now that the Avengers have moved out to the Compound upstate - Tony didn’t hold back. He pretty much opened a Halloween-themed amusement park on the Compound grounds, open to all SHIELD employees, Avengers and friends.

Unfortunately, the season must have sparked some evil inspiration in villains, because you’ve been jumping from mission to mission all month long. And yeah, that was the job, but you were in a constant state of brooding because you still haven’t gotten your fix of candy corn and chocolate ghosts for the year.

You must have been really lucky this time though, because it was literally Halloween night and you were on the jet back home, bouncing around in ecstasy as if you were already on a major sugar high.

“Calm down, we’ll be landing in a bit.” Muttered your partner in (fighting) crime and utter dumbassery, Bucky Barnes.

“Bucky, I can’t calm down. Have you seen the pictures Sam sent? They have candy floss ghosts and jack-o-lanterns back home!_ Candy floss ghosts_, Bucky!” You practically skipped back to your sit next to Bucky, who wasn’t even fighting the grin on his lips at your antics.

You were just too cute when you got all excited and he couldn’t believe that he watched you stab a man twice your size just two hours earlier. Everyone on the team knew you were _that kid_ when it came to Halloween, even if you didn’t actually like horror movies that much. Those always had you shoving your face between Bucky’s shoulders and hugging him tight as you curled up behind him on the sofa. He didn’t mind at all, in fact he often chose movies that he knew would have you glued to his side through the whole thing - ones involving demonic children. It was funny how you could be a fierce warrior on the field, but 10 minutes of the Omen had you hiding in a blanket. 

Which was why he couldn’t understand why the one thing you were the most excited about was the Haunted House that was set up back at the Compound. He was sure you’d end up shaking with fear but you seemed to get some weird thrill out of it.

It was almost midnight when the two of you landed the jet and you shot out of it the moment you saw an open door, yelling something about cute costumes as you ran for your room. Bucky had just gotten out of the shower when he got a text from you saying he should meet you outside in ten minutes. He wasn’t one for costumes, but he thought he’d humour you by at least wearing all black instead of the sweats he was longing for all day. 

The moment he stepped outside, he spotted you by that candy floss stand you were losing your mind over, bouncing on your feet as you waited for the massive sugary ghost on a stick. This year you opted for a vampire costume, as you’ve been telling Bucky every day for the past two weeks. A black dress with torn edges brushed just at the middle of your thigh, a burgundy cape with a tall collar hung from your shoulders and he’s pretty sure that’s your last victim’s blood still on you cheek. Bucky shook his head and approached you just as you were handed your sweet treat.

“Bucky!” You squealed at the sight of him, as if you the two of you haven’t just spent two weeks on a mission together. You ran over and immediately tore off a large chunk of candy floss only to shove it in Bucky’s mouth with a grin. Bucky doubted even the super-serum will be able to save his teeth after tonight.

You pulled him around to see every single attraction set up in the Compound gardens, which included countless claw machines, candy stands, way too many games that involved shooting and of course you had to see everyone’s costumes. The place was full of people too, Bucky was sure he’s never seen this many members of the team in one place at the same time, but even so, you somehow managed to have more excitement in you than anyone else.

That is, until you entered the Haunted House.

Of course, you dragged Bucky along, who with a roll of his eyes followed you around all night anyway, because truth be told you made the whole thing more fun than it would otherwise be. And now, after countless monologues of how brave you are and how the spooky actors got nothing on you, you were clinging to Bucky’s arm so tight he was sure you’ll bend the metal plates eventually.

“C’mon, relax. It’s not that scary.” He nudged you further inside as music he recognised from at least two other horror movies played loudly over the speakers.

“**Maybe you can relax in a Haunted House, but I can’t.**” You muttered, with your forehead on his biceps, refusing to even look around.

Bucky had to admit you’re missing quite a bit. The decorations and plastic skeletons with fake cobwebs draped over them were just up your alley - scary, but obviously harmless. The two of you haven’t even ran into any of the dressed up actors who were supposed to give you “the fright of your life”, and you were already shaking. Bucky felt bad for you, but then again, you’re the one who insisted you will not go to sleep until you’ve been through this place. Serves you right.

A few minutes later, you entered the Zombie Room, where a few actors where comically dragging their feet around and groaning, not unlike you when Sam drags you on a morning run. Bucky, of course, could hear them before you even entered the room, plus the fake blood wasn’t even that realistic. Honestly, he couldn’t remember the last time he laughed this much.

One of the actors came a bit too close to you though, roaring in a weird gurgling way, and you jumped to Bucky’s other side with a yelp, as far from the scary zombie as possible. Bucky waved him away and hugged you to his side.

“Bucky, I wanna leave, I can’t do this.” You whined pathetically.

“Come on, sweetheart, you’re the one who wanted to come here, remember? You were so excited!” Bucky smiled down at you, but still rubbed your back soothingly.

“Yeah, but it’s too scary! Let’s just leave, please.” You tugged on his sleeve, and Bucky had half a mind to lift you in his arms and carry you back to that shooting game with the plush bats that you liked.

But he just knew you’d complain about it the next morning and you’d tell him all about how you were faking it and you are _actually very brave_, _Bucky_.

Bucky sighed. “Have I ever failed to protect you?”

You seemed to take a moment to remember all your missions together over the past half a year and looked at up him with and expression that told him you didn’t have enough evidence to argue with him.

You still pouted, though. “No.”

“Then trust me and we’ll be out in a few minutes. Here, hold my hand and you’ll be safe.” He grabbed your hand tight in his and pulled you along to the next room. “We’re almost done, anyway.”

You entered a room that was a maze of glass walls and mirrors, the lights were low but there didn’t seem to be anything else scary lurking around. You seemed to relax a bit and let Bucky lead you to the exit, the green sign above the door shining down on you like a beacon of hope.

You were in a straight line to the door and walking leisurely towards it, already smelling the comforting scent of caramel apples, when the lights suddenly flickered and the music that was playing through the speakers died.

You clutched Bucky’s hand for dear life again - you _knew _this was all going to easy!

The lights stopped flickering and the room was cast in low red hues, artificial mist seeped over the floor almost all the way up your knees and you didn’t like it. _At all_.

Bucky was about to give you another round of encouraging words and probably shitty jokes just to keep you calm enough to get you out of there, until a tall figure dressed as some murder clown jumped out at him from behind a mirror.

With the most undignified screech you have ever heard from Bucky (and you’ve heard a few of them before), he jumped almost a foot in the air and away from the actor, slamming into the nearest wall, hand flying to his heart as if to keep it from flying out of his chest.

The actor quickly disappeared behind the mirrored wall again and left you in silence. The whole incident must have completely sobered you up because before you knew it, you were overcome by a fit of giggles as Bucky still tried to control his breathing, leaning heavily on the wall with his eyes wide.

You laughed even harder when you realised his reaction reminded you of Courage the Cowardly Dog - one of your favourite cartoons as a kid. You just couldn’t stop laughing, there were tears streaming down your face and you needed to hold on to the wall before you fell.

By the time Bucky pushed off the wall with a scowl on his face and moved towards you, you’re almost breathless from laughing.

“Oh Bucky, I think I’m gonna have to keep you safe now.” You offered him your hand and he took it, even if his head was hanging low in embarrassment.

“He startled me!” He complained and you cooed at how adorable he is. 

You had no doubt the the actor will add to his CV that he was capable of scaring the one and only Winter Soldier and he deserved to do so. You exited the Haunted House with Bucky still pouting and you thought he might need another candy floss ghost to get his dignity back, and maybe a few rounds of shooting games just for good measure.

What you didn’t expect to find there though was half your team smirking at you knowingly. Turns out, the whole Haunted House tour is recorded and displayed on a big screen at the exit for everyone to see and it looks like Sam had recorded Bucky’s moment of shame on his phone.

He stood there, cackling like an evil witch and showing the screen to Steve who was wiping tears from his eyes.

“You didn’t.” You muttered at Sam. Does this man have no regard for his safety? Sometimes you think he’s even worse than Steve and Tony.

“Oh, I did. Sound and all.” He grinned back at you, but his face froze once he realised Bucky was giving him the murder stare the entire time. 

Sam slowly put his phone away in his pocket and took a few cautious steps backwards and away from the super soldier that was about to strangle him.

“Look, Bucky-boy, it’s okay to be scared of clowns. And I’m sure all of Twitter will like you a whole lot better when they see you jump in the air like a frightened kitty cat!” Sam laughed, already running away from the scene.

Bucky, of course, followed him at top speed, yelling something about ripping the man’s head off and shoving his wings somewhere you couldn’t hear, while the rest of the team broke out in another round of giggles.

You figured this chase of life and death called for a bag of candy corn.


End file.
